21 August 2025 - commanding heights

Governments have plenty of ways to take private stuff that they want: Taxation, rulemaking, differential enforcement, financial repression.... These things are too complicated for Trump. He seems to prefer gangster style, intimidation and extortion. But I don't buy it: Why does he want to convert a grant to Intel into an investment? Because it gives him personal control. As long as he never has to say "commanding heights," he'd love to turn the U.S. into China.